9,412 research outputs found
Intranight optical variability of radio-quiet BL Lacertae objects
Aims: Intranight variation (or microvariation) is a common phenomenon of
radio-loud BL Lac objects. However, it is not clear whether the recently found
radio-quiet BL Lac objects have the same properties. The occurrence rate of
intranight variation is helpful in distinguishing the mechanism of the
continuum of radio-quiet BL Lac objects.
Methods: We conducted a photometric monitoring of 8 radio-quiet BL Lac
objects by the Xinglong 2.16m and Lijiang 2.4m telescopes. The differential
light curves are calculated between each target and two comparison stars. To
quantify the variation, the significance of variation is examined by a scaled
-test.
Results: No significant variation is found in the 11 sessions of light curves
of 8 radio-quiet BL Lac objects (one galactic source is excluded). The lack of
microvariation in radio-quiet BL Lac objects is consistent with the detection
rate of microvariation in normal radio-quiet AGNs, but much lower than for
radio-loud AGNs. This result indicates that the continua of the radio-quiet BL
Lac objects are not dominated by jets that will induce frequent
microvariations.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics; 7 pages, 1
figure, 3 table
Parameter constraints in a near-equipartition model with multi-frequency \emph{NuSTAR}, \emph{Swift} and \emph{Fermi-LAT} data from 3C 279
Precise spectra of 3C 279 in the 0.5-70 keV range, obtained during two epochs
of
\emph{Swift} and \emph{NuSTAR} observations, are analyzed using a
near-equipartition model. We apply a one-zone leptonic model with a
three-parameter log-parabola electron energy distribution (EED) to fit the
\emph{Swift} and \emph{NuSTAR} X-ray data, as well as simultaneous optical and
\emph{Fermi}-LAT -ray data. The Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC)
technique is used to search the high-dimensional parameter space and evaluate
the uncertainties on model parameters. We show that the two spectra can be
successfully fit in near-equipartition conditions, defined by the ratio of the
energy density of relativistic electrons to magnetic field
being close to unity. In both spectra, the observed X-rays are dominated by
synchrotron-self Compton photons, and the observed rays are dominated
by Compton scattering of external infrared photons from a surrounding dusty
torus.
Model parameters are well constrained. From the low state to the high state,
both the curvature of the log-parabola width parameter and the synchrotron peak
frequency significantly increase. The derived magnetic fields in the two states
are nearly identical (\ G), but the Doppler factor in the high state is
larger than that in the low state (28 versus 18). We derive that
the gamma-ray emission site takes place outside the broad-line region, at
0.1 pc from the black hole, but within the dusty torus. Implications
for 3C 279 as a source of high-energy cosmic-rays are discussed.Comment: accepted by MNRA
Rotational Behaviors and Magnetic Field Evolution of Radio Pulsars
The observed long-term spin-down evolution of isolated radio pulsars cannot
be explained by the standard magnetic dipole radiation with a constant braking
torque. However how and why the torque varies still remains controversial,
which is an outstanding problem in our understanding of neutron stars. We have
constructed a phenomenological model of the evolution of surface magnetic
fields of pulsars, which contains a long-term decay modulated by short-term
oscillations; a pulsar's spin is thus modified by its magnetic field evolution.
The predictions of this model agree with the precisely measured spin evolutions
of several individual pulsars; the derived parameters suggest that the Hall
drift and Hall waves in the NS crusts are probably responsible for the
long-term change and short-term quasi-periodical oscillations, respectively.
Many statistical properties of the timing noise of pulsars can be well
re-produced with this model, including correlations and the distributions of
the observed braking indices of the pulsars, which span over a range of more
than 100 millions. We have also presented a phenomenological model for the
recovery processes of classical and slow glitches, which can successfully model
the observed slow and classical glitch events without biases.Comment: 6 pages, 9 figures, submitted to conference proceedings of SMFNS2013
(Strong electromagnetic field and neutron stars 2013
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